Kiefer Sutherland Made This Actor Leave The Business

Kiefer Sutherland has played quite a few bad guys in his time; as Ace Merrill in Stand By Me, he was a bully with the potential for ugly, small-minded murder. In The Lost Boys he was a bully who wanted to rule a small town with his vampire friends. But with 24 came a different side of the actor, and the show propelled his career as millions tuned in to see the badass Jack Bauer get his family back.

Now, however, one actor is speaking out about working with Sutherland, saying it wasn’t exactly a dream job. In fact, he says he wanted to leave Hollywood afterward, and that’s exactly what he did.

“I did ’24,’ it was terrible. I hated every moment of it. Kiefer was the most unprofessional dude in the world. That’s not me talking trash, I’d say it to his face, I think everyone that’s worked with him has said that,” Freddie Prinze Jr. said. “I just wanted to quit the business after that. So, I just sort of stopped.”

Indeed, Prinze had been working pretty steadily up to that point after starring in several ’90s hits such as She’s All That, and after 24 things didn’t fare much better for him professionally. He says his gig with he WWE was even worse.

“I went and worked for Vince McMahon at the WWE for Christ’s sake and it was a crazier job than working with Kiefer,” he said.

Prinze, who is married to actress Sarah Michelle Gellar and has two children, did return to television on shows like Witches of East End and Bones, so his run-in with Sutherland didn’t sour him on Hollywood altogether after all.